LEGO Harry Potter spans every age range, better than expected

LEGO Harry Potter offers some familiar gameplay, but also stretches the …

Is there still anything of worth to mine out of the LEGO series of games? You take the bricks, you add a license, and away you go. Surely these titles have to feel like paint-by-numbers by now... right? After playing LEGO Harry Potter for an embarrassing number of hours, I'm happy to report that there is still much life to be found in the series.

The game follows Harry Potter's four years of school at Hogwarts, and replays the events of the books and movies in the expected humorous fashion. Familiar scenes and characters are given that special LEGO touch, and the graphics have been given a little kick in the pants. It's an attractive game, with many delightful moments and extra touches for fans of the world. Hogwarts castle is almost another character in the game, and you'll unlock different areas as you learn more spells and become more powerful. You're in a school, after all, and this Metroid-vania aspect of the game is very welcome.

Flying on the broomsticks, saving other students, exploring the nooks and crannies of the castle—there is a lot to do, and parents will have even more fun by giving their children the other controller and playing the game in co-op mode. Like past LEGO titles, there is only a slight penalty for failure, making the world safe and enjoyable to explore and poke around. The presentation won't hold the hand of people who don't already know the story, but if your children are already fans of the movies or books, they're going to get these jokes. This is something to play in addition to the book and film treatments of Harry's world, and is best enjoyed after those.

Plus, according to my press pack, a patch for online co-op play is expected to be released very soon. With 170 playable characters and damn near every setting from the books and movies included, being able to play with someone online will be a nice touch. At launch though, only local co-op is supported.

Still, there is almost an embarrassing amount to see and do in the game, and the progression of learning spells, interacting with the castle, collecting items for potions, or simply trying to find all the bricks you need in each level will keep you occupied for a very long time. You probably had a good idea whether or not you were going to buy this game before you began reading this review, but if you were on the fence, I can tell you that this is better than even fans will expect. This is a series of games that could have easily gone stale, but I found myself exploring Hogwarts with a large smile on my face. What more can you ask for?

50 Reader Comments

Is this the title that changes to split screen when the two players get too far apart? My kids love the LEGO titles, but eventually they want to go in opposite directions and end up screaming at each other.

Wife picked it up today, love playing the LEGO games together (though it can sometimes be maddening).

@Glenn, no the LEGO games don't traditionally split screen. If you run in opposite directions, you'll both be basically stuck on each side with the screen going nowhere. Which can make it frustrating if a player just destroyed something and has tons of "bits" to collect, but the other player runs the opposite way leaving them just out of reach.

Maybe I'm being overly sensitive, but does "damn near" have a place in an article about a game openly for families and young children? In a normal article on here I wouldn't even raise an eyebrow, but from a "google search" perspective, it seems unwise.

Maybe I'm being overly sensitive, but does "damn near" have a place in an article about a game openly for families and young children? In a normal article on here I wouldn't even raise an eyebrow, but from a "google search" perspective, it seems unwise.

Give me an effin' break Happysin (such an ironic screen name for your post) If kids are old enough to google and read an article such as this, then I think they can handle the word "damn." LOL perhaps you should be more upset at the vaguely disturbing wording about the collectables:

"there is almost an embarrassing amount to see and do in the game" Huh?

Maybe I'm being overly sensitive, but does "damn near" have a place in an article about a game openly for families and young children? In a normal article on here I wouldn't even raise an eyebrow, but from a "google search" perspective, it seems unwise.

If children can, and parents allow their children to google freely, term "Damn" is the last thing they will have to worry about.

I love playing the lego games with my son. Starwars is still our favorite, but Indy and Batman were good also. I think Harry might bring my daughter into the fold because she loves Harry Potter. Glad to hear about the split screen. That will help a lot!

If there is a wii and ps3 in the house, any benefits to getting this for one system over the other?

I thought I read something about being able to do different spells by using different want movements, but don't know if that was just rumor or something that actually made it into the Wii version of the game. (If not, sounds like something that they ought to add when they do years 5-7)

If there is a wii and ps3 in the house, any benefits to getting this for one system over the other?

So far I can tell you the graphics quality on Wii is pretty poor, so PS3 probably has all the right shading etc. Plus I can't finish the first level due to a disk read error, though that could be caused by disk vibration during play. I'd go PS3.

Probably seems like a pretty lame question, but I am wondering how much of a spoiler these games are. My six-year-old son loves the Lego games, but I am wondering whether playing a game like this would take something away from the reading of the books eventually. I mean I know I pretty much worked out the whole story of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull from Lego Indiana Jones 2 (spoiling that was the least of that movie's problems though).

Did the press kit give any more specific information about when the online co-op might be added? I just mean, are we talking months or years? A lot of the press blurbs about the game, and the game packaging I believe, states that it is supported, and it's somewhat disappointing that it is not yet. I'm not really bitching, just hoping I don't have to wait too long!

Probably seems like a pretty lame question, but I am wondering how much of a spoiler these games are. My six-year-old son loves the Lego games, but I am wondering whether playing a game like this would take something away from the reading of the books eventually. I mean I know I pretty much worked out the whole story of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull from Lego Indiana Jones 2 (spoiling that was the least of that movie's problems though).

Um, nothing takes away from the books. OK, they'll get the gist of the books, but come on, who doesn't know that

So the Wii version doesn't allow you to cast spells by waving the Wiimote? What a disappointment! I'll probably go with the PS3 version then. I had a lot of fun playing Lego Indiana Jones, and I enjoyed reading the Harry Potter's books, so it' gotta be fun (I read the last book, "The Deathly Hollows" twice in a row, it's awesome).

Of course everyone should go with the PC version, you can use any controller you want. I played through Lego Batman and Lego Indiana Jones with my then 8 year old cousin using Wiimotes+Nunchucks customized to our preferences. And since Lego Harry Potter is also on Steam, convenience wins (well, depends whether you count frustration with Bluetooth stacks into convenience, though on windows 7 and non Microsoft os, wiimotes play nicely).

Maybe I'm being overly sensitive, but does "damn near" have a place in an article about a game openly for families and young children? In a normal article on here I wouldn't even raise an eyebrow, but from a "google search" perspective, it seems unwise.

My wife rarely games (she's a big fan of peggle and games of that type) but I think this might be something I could get her interested in since she's such a big HP fan. Would be nice having something we can play together again.

Probably seems like a pretty lame question, but I am wondering how much of a spoiler these games are. My six-year-old son loves the Lego games, but I am wondering whether playing a game like this would take something away from the reading of the books eventually. I mean I know I pretty much worked out the whole story of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull from Lego Indiana Jones 2 (spoiling that was the least of that movie's problems though).

Read the books first. These games have no actual dialog, and the way the story is presented is more tongue and cheek. In other words, they're meant to be played by people who already know what's going on.

Question:I have a sister in law who I'd like to get this for, she's v.geeky and a massive HP fan. However, she's never been a gamer. She'll play snood or trivia, but otherwise is intimidated at the hand-eye coordination other games require. Does this game require any innate gaming knowledge? Would it be good for a gaming n00b?

Played it with my Nephew. He's 3. His idea of fun was to jump over railings to his death and constantly go back to the beginning areas instead of progress forward. There needs to be a way to set it up where only one player can guide the characters through doors and whatnot, for just such an occasion. It took us an hour to get to and defeat the troll in the bathroom.

@digraph,

We picked it up for the Wii and it's about as simple as you can get. Press this button to zap with wand, that button to use spell, this other button to jump.

I'm trying to figure out if this would be a good "intro to gaming" for a three year old girl who's not really into structured gaming. The split coop is going to be essential, but I'm not sure about how much/little she would get out of it beyond that.

Actually, in this game the screen is split dynamically when you play multiplayer. It's a very nice feature.

Yes indeed it is. They began this new way of splitting the screen with Lego Indiana Jones 2 and my 5 year old will routinely leave my area and go get something else and he can easily follow with the split screen feature.

I just picked this up last night and its great! If it's anything like Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga you can look forward to 40-50 hours to get 100% completion in the game!

I'm a little worried. My wife LOVES the Lego games, she has %100 every one that has come out. The probem is she is NOT a Harry Potter fan (neither am I, but for other reasons). I really want to get it for her on the PC, but worried that she may get stuck at some point (like where someone would say "Well, in the book he did this spell at the mirror" and would know what to do in order to move forward.)

I'm still on the fence about getting this for her. She has pointed out the displays at the store, but seemed against getting it... so I'm getting mixed signals.

Played it with my Nephew. He's 3. His idea of fun was to jump over railings to his death and constantly go back to the beginning areas instead of progress forward. There needs to be a way to set it up where only one player can guide the characters through doors and whatnot, for just such an occasion. It took us an hour to get to and defeat the troll in the bathroom.

Here is a hint for you. There is a gold brick in the game that once you obtain it allows you to go into extras and turn it on. This Gold brick disallows players from falling off ledges. Just google search for Lego Harry Potter codes. And no, they don't disable achievements.

Question:I have a sister in law who I'd like to get this for, she's v.geeky and a massive HP fan. However, she's never been a gamer. She'll play snood or trivia, but otherwise is intimidated at the hand-eye coordination other games require. Does this game require any innate gaming knowledge? Would it be good for a gaming n00b?

It's impossible to say for sure, but it can work. Your best bet would be playing cooperatively at least for the first time, so you can tell her what to do and how, do the difficult parts or even change characters when needed. I play this way with my wife, and it's fun for both . Once she gets the mechanics, it's easy to keep going.

Lego games are easy and accessible but still require some learning. Particularly when you jump sometimes it's difficult to calculate where you're going to land, which makes some parts a bit of a pain when you're constantly falling when trying to reach somewhere. Also some secret areas are only accessible for certain characters which you won't be able to unlock until you've progressed quite a bit into the game, so to unlock everything you have to revisit most levels (I don't know if that's true for this Lego Harry Potter game, but this is how Indiana Jones 1 & 2, and Batman work).